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Queen of Blood

“For one hundred years, Seri’s people have lived under the thumb of the Blood, the cruel and mysterious rulers of Athon. Seri wants nothing more than to put food on the table and marry the hotheaded but handsome Rilen come spring. But when a noblewoman asks Seri to be her handmaiden, Rilen insists she move to the enemy’s castle . . . and spy on the newly arrived prince.

Prince Graeme has grown weary of his family’s curse. The Blood are powerful and immortal, but doomed to live in the shadows, flitting from lover to lover, always in search of the mythic Eterna—the one woman who will sate their hunger. Now his father has sent him to the outskirts of the empire to stamp out a rebellious Vidari faction. But when a wild and alluring Vidari girl shows up at court, he finds himself torn between following his father’s orders and following his heart . . .

A war is brewing between Athonite and Vidari, between Blood and man. As uprisings sweep through the land, Seri and Graeme find themselves at the center of a storm with only one choice: betray each other, or betray their people.

“

Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
1 star

Notes I Made While Reading

17% This is my third time restarting and I’m surprised I made it this far. It’s incredibly boring.

20% Agonizingly slow-paced

33% So far, the only thing she does is ‘stick her chin up defiantly’. This is absolutely ridiculous. She reminds me of that character from the Fairly Odd Parents. THE CRIMSON CHIN.

61% Interesting how a pair of nice clothes suddenly gives her such a refined vocabulary and speech.

63% “He wanted her laughter. Her joy. He wanted her.”*
I want to throw up.

70% High fantasy and a dash of the worst aspects of Twilight gives you this tragedy of a book.

95% I’ve probably rolled my eyes so much that they’ll be stuck that way.

Wow. I’m surprised that I actually finished that book. I’m at a loss for words when I look at the other reviews for Queen of Blood and worry if I’ve read the same book or not as the rest of these people.
*sigh* Maybe it’s just one of those things. What ‘things’? No clue. My brain is fried.
I have received ‘Queen of Blood’ as an ARC from netgalley. I picked this book up because the cover is absolutely beautiful and I didn’t care much for the blurb. I just dived in because I thought it would be interesting. The Prologue was alright, not exciting, but enough to grab my interest. Unfortunately, that was the last time I thought anything about this tale was interesting.

The main character, Seri, is just a ‘goose girl’. All she’s ever known is trying to sustain her family. Her boyfriend, Rilen, is ‘very handsome’ and spends nearly every waking moment of his existence planning on how to take down the Athonites; the cruel and mysterious rulers of Athon. (Seri and Rilen both belong to the Vidari faction.)
Poor Seri wants nothing more than to put food on the table and marry her boyfriend. But everything changes when she visits the market and is seen by a Athonite noblewomen. The noblewoman, Mila, asks her to be her handmaiden and promises her a sizeable amount of money. At first, she declines but after Rilen insists that this is the perfect chance for an inside spy, she accepts.
So she works for Mila, everything sucks, has to do this for her family, Athonites are horrible, life is unfair, yada yada… You get the jist?
Seri is an annoying protagonist whom I had trouble relating to. Her character barely had any depth and her foolishness is cringe-worthy.
Prince Graeme is the other protagonist. He’s the white sheep in a family of wolves. He despises the curse befallen on his family and is just trying to be a good ruler. I presume that Jill Myles tried to make Graeme a likable character with his treasure trove of patience for Seri, willingness to learn ‘the truth about his lands’ and utter devotion to Seri. Honestly, I detested Graeme as much as I detested Seri.
They were annoying and the romance quotient between them was far too much to read about. I did not care about them or their love, at all.

*The copy I received is an uncorrected advance copy so I will not be posting any other quotes from the story.

How I felt about this book:

Conclusion:

Queen of Blood was not an enjoyable read. It was incredibly slow-paced and the romance was boring. The fantasy aspects were mediocre and the characters weren’t relatable I tried very hard to like this story but I couldn’t bring myself to. It was tiring to drudge through to find anything I like in the plot.
If I were to recommend it to someone, I’d suggest it to someone who hasn’t read much in the fantasy genre.(because the plotline is similar to a lot of other books in the market now).

P.S. I don’t like giving negative reviews because I know how hard the author must have worked to get this story out. No offense to Jill Myles. I’ll try some of her other books and hopefully I’ll find something I like!
Regards!